Numbness of hands, tremors and slight lightheadedness

[Jenc]

Is it possible to have continued symptoms of numbness in the hands, a heavy head feeling and slight tremors for days, even when not experiencing anxiety?  In other words can the symphathetic nervous system give you these physical symptoms even when you do not feel any panic or stress?

[Amina1]

I am a 47 year old male and I have started having symptoms consistent with the low blood sugar, where I would get lightheaded, would have a tingling sensation in my extremities, jitterness and nervesness. It's very hard for me to articulate the symptoms other than to say that it feels like tha body gets a rush of adrealine and is prepared to fight a threat. And this feeling stays with me for the whole day, regardless how much I eat or what I eat. I did a blood test and the sugar, although a bit elevated, was generally within the range. Other than that, the test was normal. I am not under any stress or anxiety, so I can't really figure out what causes these sysmtoms. My doctor felt that it might had somethinjg to do with my being glucose intolerant (which he thinks I am based on the blood test), but I do not believe that's the case - my blood sugar after I ate was 104.
Has anybody experienced these symptoms and may know what the cause might be?

Thanks.

[llemrahs]

WHAT AN INCREDIBLE CHANGE!

I just wanted to add that I have been clean off all meds for 5 days. I have experienced bad headaches and I slept a lot for the first 3 days but now I am feeling great! I changed my diet and it is helping! I can't believe it!

I stopped drinking completely. No more liquid sugar for me! I am watching what I eat. I have always had problems with fried foods and I have been lactose intollerant for several years but I never put it all together. I have experienced headaches and blurred vision for a couple years but it was always diagnosed as going along with my severe back pain. I was even given the slightest script for glasses that I cannot use. Now it all makes sense.

I would like to suggest to anyone experiencing these similar symtoms to look at the information about hypoglycimia. The change is saving my life! And by that I mean... my sanity,(I'm back! I feel like me again.), my money (no more trips to the doc for pains in the chest), and....ohhhh...just everything. I feel so good.

I stopped at the health food section at my local grocery store looking for protien bars. (A couple nibbles on one when I feel the headache and blurry vision does wonders) and the dietician suggested that I try some Stress B-Complex caps. All natural, no additives. I am on my 3rd day and I feel great. She explained to me how, even with diet change, the adrenaline can and will still race through you for awhile.
I still feel it a little while after I eat but it is almost gone. She was kind enough to supply me (hand write) a list of foods to avoid and foods to eat.

I suggest starting out with eliminating all alcohol, (it's hard, belive me, coming from an alcoholic but I want to live and enjoy life!)pop, caffeine of all types, canned and packages foods, refined and processed foods, dried fruits, salt (over use), saturated fats, atificial colors and preservatives and WHITE flour.
(it's difficult for so many with our fast paced lifestyles. It's so easy to pop in a frozen or packages meal these days)

Stay away from-bacon, cold cuts, fried foods, gravies, ham, sausage and dairy products. (except for low-fat soured products)

Eat 6 to 8 small meals. Do not eat what we think is a normal serving! Just eat more often. You don't get that too stuffed, I feel sick feeling. It really helps!
It is really hard for some of us to beable to snack on something during the day due to our duties but do it. Try some fruit, nuts or a protien bar. (They are easy to hide in a pocket and pull a little piece off.)

Avoid sweet fruits such as grape or prune. If you drink them mix half with water.

Eat high in fiber- all vegetables, especially brocolli, carrots, raw spinach, squash and string beans. Eat then raw or steamed.
Also eat-beans, brown rice, oats, oat bran, lentils, potato, soy products (yuck, but I have to do it!), apples, apricots, avacados, bananas, cantelope, grape fruit, lemmons and persimmmons.

eat protien- low fat cottage cheese, fish, grains, kefir, raw cheese, raw nuts, seeds (not peanuts) skinless white turkey or chicken breat, and low fat yogurt.

Keep your starches to a minimum. Like corn, noodles, hominy, white rice and yams.

And...belive it or not...Maitake mushrooms are benificial for helping the body adapt to stress.

I know this is a lot and change is sometimes difficult but it's worth a try! You are worth a try! One week ago, I could barely walk or talk and I constantly thought about the next attack. Now I'm heading outside to my garden, I'm smiling and life is great! I'm finally crying tears.... of JOY!

If only one person reads this and it helps you...well...GOD IS GREAT!

Health and happiness to all!
God bless,

llemrahs

[llemrahs]

I would like to thank you for all the wonderful information! Recently, I have been diagnosed with panic disorder. I woke one night thinking that I was having a heart attack. I felt very strange and I realized that I was a;so having an anxiety attack. A week later I was hospitalized. They found that the pain I was experiencing in my chest was due to a broken rib and a severly bruised sternum. (I suggest that you never allow anyone to try to crack your back!)
They put me on nitro and kept me for a couple days. My heart was very strong and they chocked it up as panic disorder. I was put on Zoloft. I could hardly walk or talk and I felt like someone was scrambling my brains. I was then given Effexor. A half hour after taking it, I became very ill. (I'll spare the details!) My doc, (bless her heart) took me off of the meds and suggested I relax now that I know it's not my heart.
I felt better but still not normal. (as normal as I can anyway.)
In the meantime, the racing, pounding heart, subsided some. I was sure that I was having an allergic reaction to a med called Norethidrone. (for possible endrometriosis in my uterus) I stopped that also.
It started again. The pain in the chest, the pain up my neck and down the inside of my left arm, dizziness, headaches, stomach pain , outburts of tears, blurry vision and insomnia. (I didn't sleep for 4 days) I tried to tell myself that I was okay but everyday I felt worse. I was having some problems with blurred vision also. I tried to deep breath and tell myself that it would go away. It didn't work.  My doc prescribed wellbutrin. About a half hour after taking the wellbutrin with my vioxx, I had a bad attack. I actually called the paramedics! Of course when they got here my bloodpressure came down. It was suggested to stop the vioxx. That evening, I was woken from a sound sleep with a terrible pain in my chest. We called the medics again. When they got here my blood pressure was still at 190/106. I was transported to the hospital. Of course, everything became normal and I was released with a scipt of flexeril. (they are claiming that I am feeling all of this due to the sternum injury)
Today, an hour after taking my wellbutrin, I attacked again. This was the worst one yet. I actually felt like my throat was closing up. I made it into the business I was outside of and they gave me water. The drive home was very weird (I was a passenger) I felt disconnected from myself. It was very scary. lt felt awful.
By the way...I hadn't had anything to eat yet. When I got home I tried to look up information on another drug that my doc prescribed called Vistaril. I saw a little label on the side of my wellbutrin that said DO NOT DRINK ALCOHOL. I had had about 8 glasses of wine at a "B" Day party yesterday.
I don't know what I was thinking! I was so weirded out that all I could do was rock for a couple hours. I finally ate something and felt a little better. I realized that both days that I had the really bad episodes I had drank some wine the night before. I didn't even think about the possible reactions between the wine and wellbutrin. This evening I am still having a racing heart, headache, etc... My appetite is gone.
Looking for some help or answers, I came across this posting regarding Hypoglycemia. It described exactly how I have been feeling... I have darn near every symptom.
Thank you for such thorough information!
All of this is very real. One just doesn't understand until they experience it for themselves. I pray that all of you will find comfort and recovery very soon.

llemrahs

If anyone has taken the vistaril, could you please tell me how it makes you feel.Tired, drugged, relieved? Does it really work to take it on the onset of an attack?
Thank you so much!   God bless!

[Baadsie]

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Conquering Anxiety, Depression and Fatigue Without Drugs - the Role of Hypoglycemia
by Professor Joel H. Levitt
The Anxiety & Hypoglycemia Relief Institute
e-mail:***@****
voice-mail:212-479-7805
web-page: http://www.travelersonline.com/anxiety/

(For questions regarding anxiety & hypoglycemia and New York City
classes, contact Prof. Joel H. Levitt ***@****)

Stress is often blamed as the root cause for anxiety, depression and fatigue, but, although stress can make any problem worse, the source of such problems is often physical in nature. And hypoglycemia is one of the major physical causes.

This article covers the following:

What is Hypoglycemia? - the cause of hypoglycemia and its effects.

Typical Hypoglycemia Symptoms - the wide range of mental, emotional and physical symptoms.

Testing for Hypoglycemia - standard medical testing and why it is often unreliable.

The Solution to Hypoglycemia - a list of dietary and nutrient recommendations, with special notes and cautions.

Recommended Reading - books and other references that will give you a more complete understanding.

What is Hypoglycemia?

First of all, let's be clear on one major point - hypoglycemia is not a "disease" in that you either have it or don't, it is a condition, and, in most cases, it is fully reversible.

Some types of hypoglycemia are caused by a tumor or other physical damage to a gland. However, that is rare, and not the focus of this article. The more common type of hypoglycemia - called "functional," "reactive," or "fasting" - is your body's reaction to what you put in it.

Hypoglycemia is the body's inability to properly regulate blood sugar levels, causing the level of sugar in the blood to be too low or to fall too rapidly.

Blood sugar, in the form of glucose, is the basic fuel for all brain operation and physical activity, including muscular. If the available fuel is too inadequate, any marginal physical or mental system may start to shut down. In addition, the glandular imbalances that result, as the glands struggle to regulate the sugar level, cause their own symptoms - especially high adrenaline, which is usually perceived as anxiety or panic, but, in some cases, can lead to violence. (Am I saying this has something to do with domestic violence and street crime? YES! And there is expert congressional testimony to back this up.)

Here is a typical pattern:

1. You eat or drink excess sugar (the average American consumes well over 100 lbs/yr.).

2. The body releases insulin to put sugar into storage, but the insulin response is excessive (due to ADAPTATION and/or chromium deficiency).

3. About 2 hours later so much sugar has been put into storage that there is not enough left in the blood, and you get a low-blood-sugar emergency.

Symptoms such as weakness and mental fog begin.

4. The body responds to the emergency by dumping adrenaline into the system.

More symptoms follow from the high adrenaline, such as racing heart, anxiety, etc., etc., etc..

5. The roller coaster rises and falls in critical hormones, causing an unbalance in all the hormones and often resulting in ongoing symptoms.

Many Americans have hypoglycemia to a greater or less degree. The symptoms comprise a remarkably long list and range from mild discomfort to being completely incapacitated.


Typical Hypoglycemia Symptoms

Following is a list of symptoms I've drawn from multiple sources, plus my own observations. The list is long because symptoms result not only directly from low blood glucose but also from the glandular imbalances that result, especially high adrenaline. Only one or two symptoms may be present, but most often, you will find several.

Note that although I've listed mental and physical symptoms separately, they often overlap.

Mental Symptoms

Anxiety - ranging from constant worry to panic attacks.

Phobias - claustrophobia, agoraphobia, acrophobia, and so on. This is anxiety tied to a particular issue.

Nervousness

Restlessness

Irritability

Depression - especially with females

Violent outbursts - especially with males

Obsessive Compulsive Behavior

Forgetfulness - this may just be choline/inositol deficiency.

Inability to concentrate

Unsocial, Asocial, Anti-Social behavior

Crying spells

Nightmares & night terrors - terror can continue after you wake up. It is especially indicative of hypoglycemia if you wake in a cold sweat, if the terror continues, if there is pressure on the chest, or if you are unable to breathe.

Physical Symptoms

Headaches - especially if a meal is missed.

Tachycardia - racing pulse due to high adrenaline.

Fatigue, weakness, "rubbery" legs.

Tremor or trembling of arm, leg, or whole body (outside or inside)

Twitching, jerking, or cramping of a leg muscle - cramping may be just calcium or magnesium deficiency or food allergy response.

Waking after 2-3 hrs sleep

Tinnitus - ringing in the ear, due to high insulin in about 70 % of tinnitus cases.

Abnormal weight - too high or too low.

Compulsive craving for sweets, colas, coffee, alcohol

Lack of appetite

A diagnosis of "mitral valve prolapse"  

Crawling sensations on skin

Fainting  

Blurred vision

Smothering spells - gasping for breath

Red blotches on skin or circular arcs of red skin

Lack of sexual drive

Chest pain - severe, but EKG normal.

Can't tolerate bright light or loud sounds

Joint pains

Another clue is that the symptoms are usually worse in the early morning after waking, and get better after being up and around a full day.

It's a remarkably long list and for very good reasons!

Many of the above symptoms can be found in the standard PDR
(Physician's Desk Reference) as the typical expected side effects
for a NORMAL HEALTHY person given an injection of adrenaline
(alternate name epinephrine).

Why should anyone not injected with adrenaline have such symptoms? To understand what is going on, we have to understand how humans have been designed to survive emergencies. Suppose you meet a tiger on the road. What happens? Immediately an emergency situation is detected and the adrenal gland dumps adrenaline. The adrenaline prepares you for vigorous
muscular activity. It brings sugar out of storage for muscular action. It raises the heart rate so your blood circulates faster and turns off digestion. You are now prepared for FIGHT or FLIGHT.

Some people will fight, their adrenaline response will be ANGER, most people will run, their adrenaline response is felt as FEAR.

In most cases, the simplest WORKING DEFINITION OF ANXIETY is the way you perceive HIGH ADRENALINE. If adrenaline is moderately high for too long a time, people feel anxious and wonder why. This is called "free-floating " anxiety.

If, on the other hand, adrenaline shoots up to a very high value rapidly, and
then decreases rapidly, the anxiety is brief but intense. This is called a "panic attack." If you regularly pick a particular thing to tie the anxiety to, such as high places, that's called a "phobia." What's the problem? What's wrong with the life-saving response to a tiger on the road?

The human body, because it's a wonderful self-adjusting system has a mechanism called ADAPTATION. If you repeatedly have emergencies the body learns to dump larger and larger amounts of adrenaline at the slightest hint of an emergency. The adrenal gland puts out about 60 different hormones- repeated requests for adrenaline dumps will affect all the others.

A hair-trigger adrenaline response is not what you want in modern life. What happens in modern life is that several times a day many people have low-blood-sugar emergencies. This leads to adrenaline dumping and ANXIETY, it also leads to hormonal imbalances.

NORMAL SUGAR PROCESSING: Eat food including sugar; pancreas
releases insulin; insulin puts excess sugar into storage for use later.

"REACTIVE HYPOGLYCEMIC" PROCESSING: Consume excessive sugar food
or beverage; pancreas dumps excess insulin (remember ADAPTION);
About two hours later blood sugar crashes to emergency level; adrenal
gland dumps excess adrenaline (remember ADAPTION); RESULT=ANXIETY
and HORMONAL IMBALANCE

The saving grace is that hypoglycemia, even early-stage diabetes when the pancreas starts to give up, is fully reversible with diet and nutritional supplements.

Testing for Hypoglycemia

Standard medical testing for hypoglycemia is the Glucose Tolerance Test (GTT). The person being tested is required to fast for 12 hours, then have a drink with a super-high sugar content - a disaster plan for someone with hypoglycemia. The blood is then tested every 30 minutes, for 6 hours. Unfortunately, the test is unreliable as it is frequently done in an inadequate way or is misinterpreted.

The most frequent problems with the GTT are:

The test is run for less than 6 hours - a 3 -hour test certainly can't catch a drop at the 5.5 hour point).

The test measures glucose level but fails to measure insulin and adrenaline - your blood sugar may be holding up because your adrenal gland is dumping huge amounts of adrenaline. Glucose alone can't tell the full story.

The symptoms are not carefully observed during the test - the classic story is of a man who went for his test, drank the sugar solution, became violent, and smashed the furniture in the waiting room. Upon leaving, he was given a bill for the furniture, and a test stamped "normal!" His glucose level didn't go below the level that lab used as an absolute criterion! If you become violent during the test, or faint, or break out in a cold sweat and start shaking you have FAILED the test REGARDLESS of the NUMBERS!

The rate of drop in blood sugar is ignored - the lowest glucose level is important, but the rate of drop is just as important. Falling too rapidly from high-normal to low-normal represents poor regulation and will give symptoms.

Because of the above testing problems, hypoglycemia is best diagnosed by its symptoms.

The Solution to Hypoglycemia

To reverse the condition, the glands must be allowed to recover. This is done by eliminating all foods and beverages that deliver sugar rapidly. Thus the cure for "low blood sugar" is to AVOID sugar and simple carbohydrates, like white wheat flour, that convert rapidly into sugar.

Stress, of course, makes all problems worse. And if you can eliminate all stress - fine. But, realistically, it is much easier to simply control what you consume.

My recommendations for handling hypoglycemia consist of diet, and nutritional supplements. There are also excellent full-length books available in the Recommended Books list at the end of this article. I especially recommend books 1 and 2.


Dietary Recommendations
Best foods to eat
raw vegetables
raw mixed salad greens
seeds and nuts (not peanuts)
fish

Next best
cooked vegetables
cooked greens (Collard greens, Mustard greens, Spinach etc.)
organic eggs (hardboiled for safety)
turkey
organic beefliver
organic beef
beans
whole grains (one at a time)

Best snack
carry seeds & nuts.

Best beverages
Freshly made vegetable juices. Most hypoglycemics should probably limit carrots in juice form to about 1/day or less, as a sweetener for other veggies.

Spring or filtered water.

Herbal tea - from one or two herbs, not "naturally flavored" blends.

Worst food ingredients

The packaging for some foods can be misleading. For example, many packages will say "Sugar Free." However, if you read the ingredients, you will find types of sweeteners just as harmful. Therefore, it is important to read all labels carefully.

Hypoglycemics should avoid the following:

Sugar - this includes sucrose, fructose, raw sugar (sugar + dirt), brown sugar (sugar, dyed brown), corn syrup, "dried cane juice", "raisin juice" etc., molasses, malt, malted barley, even maple syrup and honey.

Hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated oils - including vegetable shortening and margarine. These are hormone imbalancers.

White wheat flour and white rice - nutrients that prevent heart disease & cancer are removed from these products to give longer shelf life. Fiber is also removed, therefore the starch rapidly converts to sugar.

Peanuts & Corn - high mold sources which tax the immune system.

Special Notes and Cautions About Diet

The above list represents my personal current opinion, and is periodically modified. Consideration was given both to the influence on sugar metabolism, and on general health. Many foods not listed above as best or worst can be eaten in moderation, assuming of course that you are not allergic to them. Additionally, the following factors need to be observed

Organic Foods
If you can't get "organic" foods, use non-organic foods less often.

Vegetarians
If you are a vegetarian, of course eliminate animal foods. The vegetarian route requires more knowledge and more work; but I currently believe that, in the long run, it gives the best health in most cases - for hypoglycemics as well as "normals."

Food Allergies
Food allergy and reactive hypoglycemia frequently go hand in hand. If you are allergic to one or more of the best foods, then they are not acceptable for you.

Individual food allergies must be carefully considered with any restrictive diet. For example, a grain-based diet can be a disaster for someone with grain allergies, even if the carbohydrate level can be tolerated. Another example is eggs, which are a common allergen.

To find out what you are allergic to is a gradual process of learning which involves primarily selective elimination, for at least 5 days, with careful observation of symptoms.

Likes and Dislikes
I also believe that you must be reasonably comfortable with your food choices to assimilate the food properly, i.e. foods you hate won't make a good diet for you.

Beware of Liquids Containing Sugar
Liquids containing sugar deliver sugar to the body too rapidly. In addition to obvious disasters such as sodas, colas, sweetened coffee (a double whammy if caffeine is present), and alcohol (behaves like liquid sugar), you should also AVOID FRUIT JUICES (an exception is grapefruit which can usually be tolerated in moderation, perhaps 4 oz./day)

AVOID SKIM MILK. Milk would be O.K. for hypoglycemics, but a harmful enzyme, Xanthine Oxidase, makes it a bad choice for all. Consider instead organic yogurt, from whole milk, NOT skim or low-fat. The harmful enzyme Xanthine Oxidase is de-activated when yogurt and cheeses are made.

Avoid Artificial Sweeteners
Artificial sweeteners have been a major American health disaster, especially aspartame, and should not even be considered as a substitute for sugar. They make recovery for hypoglycemics much more difficult and are a major health hazard.
Nutrient Recommendations
The most important of the supplements are high level vitamin C - which is the primary support for the adrenal gland - and a good multiple formula containing chromium.

Vitamin C
The best type of vitamin C, and the easiest to take in my opinion, is POWDERED Vitamin C (Ascorbic Acid).

I recommend Allergy Research (Willner stock # 10004), or Freeda (C PWD "Dull"- Willner stock # 14267, 4 oz & # 14268 16 oz).

Solgar Vitamin C Crystals do not dissolve as well but are still effective, and widely available.

The dosage depends on how serious your symptoms are. A general guideline for most people having uncomfortable symptoms would be 10 grams (10,000 milligrams) per day. A level teaspoon of powder or crystals gives about 4 grams, a heaping teaspoon 5 grams. Therefore two heaping teaspoons per day would give 10 grams. This should be split into two or more servings at different times during the day, preferably with meals. If you are not used to these levels, start with less and work up over a few days. An extra teaspoon can always be taken if you start to feel bad - indigestion, a headache, dizzy, a panic attack starting, etc.

[jet73]

I've been experiencing very similar symptoms.  My forehead feels very heavy and hot, arms/hands tingling at night, plus dizzy feeling and general odd feeling even though I haven't had an all-out panic attack in days.  I'm beginning to think I have every disease out there!!

[Roger Gould, M.D.]

The answer is yes, but if you are concerned that you are having a neurological problem, you should look into that.